Will's Tree Challenge: Question #1

[Anonymous User]

1 point each for:

Tachigi
Candy J Shirey
Cray13

Great Job!



As to the Oak....

In was the frigate "Constitution" (or "Old Ironsides") that had a gun deck of solid White Oak (Quercus Alba) from Massachusetts and a keel of White Oak from New Jersey. These oak ships were used right up to the second world war when the keels of minesweepers were also made of White Oak.

Same sources list above,


Will

 

[pslguy1983]

pslguy1983

tree of life was pine. why it got called that ?
I don't know.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

A fun contest, but I think your White Pine sources are going a little overboard with some of their facts

This struggle over the ownership of the White Pines was a significant part of what eventually led to the American Revolutionary War. The very first flag of the revolutionary forces featured the White Pine.

I assume they are refering to the 3rd Flag of New England which was adopted by the Massachusetts Militia(?) Known as the "Pine Tree Flag" this was based on earlier flags dating back to the 1680's. It is important to note that the tree in question was sometimes an oak, and sometimes a pine. It was never a "white pine" specifically, though it seems to have settled into a triangle pine shape by about 1707. Also, I can find no reference that the tree had any special significance related to rebellion against white pine harvests. I certainly doubt that England would have allowed them to fly a flag for 100 years prior to the American Revolution if it had any special revolutionary significance. Many people mistakenly believe this flag was flown at Bunker Hill (due to a romantic, but error-filled, painting made after the war by someone who wasn't even at the battle), just as many people believe that a blue "Bunker Hill Flag" with a pine tree actually existed (an error made by a person coloring flag charts after the end of the war).

Regardless of the significance of the Pine Tree Flag, it was not the flag of the Sons of Liberty, or one of the numerous snake flags (Don't Tread on Me, etc), nor was it flown at the Battle of Point Pleasant, Virginia (the first battle of the revolution), nor was it Washington's flag, nor was it the flag adopted by the Continental Congress, so I'm not sure what the white pine source is trying to say

Bowing to pressure, Congress stopped all White Pine exports in 1774.

This statement must have been created by someone in the lumber industry The 1st Continental Congress met from 9/5 - 10/26, 1774, in response to the Intolerable Acts and the Quebec Act. One of the Intolerable Acts was the closure of the port of Boston by the English until reparations were made for the loss of tea that occured during the Boston Tea Party. The 1st Continental Congress formed the Continental Association (this was 18 months before the Declaration of Independence) and immediately imposed a complete ban on the importation of English tea, followed by an importation and consumption ban of ALL English Goods that began on December 1, 1774. If, by the following September of 1775, Paliament had not addressed their grievances, the Association would follow up with phase two, which would consist of a total export ban of ALL GOODS. Pine of any type was not mentioned specifically, and no pine export ban ever occured, at least up until the point that hostilities broke out and England blockaded colonial ports in 1775.

 

[Anonymous User]

Thanks Bnut.

Busy day, I'll respond with more later. I'll will say that congress did indeed ban ALL exports.



Will

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Thanks Bnut.

Busy day, I'll respond with more later. I'll will say that congress did indeed ban ALL exports.

Will

No rush, it isn't really a contest I enjoy these trivia/history subjects. I wouldn't be as interested if I hadn't just read a couple of books on the Revolution Trade importance varied by year as well as by trade partner. During times of war, certain comodities were highly valued, etc. For example, during the 7 Years War (French/Indian War), imports to the colonies actually increased by 50% or more, due simply to war supplies being shipped in. Britain had a robust fisheries business, so they did not import much fish, however S. Europe and the West Indies had a high demand for colonial fish (dried).

Just to give you a sense, in 1770, here were the top EXPORTS from the colonies (to all countries)(number in parentheses is % of total value in pounds sterling). These goods in aggregate made up approx. 75% of the value of all EXPORT trade:

Tobacco: 27.0%
Bread & Flour: 15.0%
Dried Fish: 11.2%
Rice: 10.2%
Wheat: 3.9%
Indigo: 3.9%
Furs: 2.7%

Compare those categories to the categories for lumber and wood goods:

Pitch, Tar, Turpentine, Rosin: 1.0%
Masts, Yards, etc: 0.5%
Pine, Oak, Cedar lumber (finished boards): 1.7%
Pine, Oak timber (incl. framed houses): 0.3%
Staves, heading and finished barrels: 2.1%

So the colonies exported 4x the value in barrels as they did in spars (Barrels were critically important back then for shipment and storage). This may not tell the complete story, of course. Masts and spars may not have been a big business, but though small may have been uniquely important (if those masts and spars could not be obtained elsewhere).

This may help to explain why, at least in traditional history books, you read so much about Tobacco, Farm Goods, Sugar, Tea, and English Manufactured Goods. These categories represented over 60% of the import/export balance between England and the Colonies. (This is before the rise of the whaling and cotton industries).

 

[Anonymous User]

Sources reflect the authors, no doubt....I agree.

Some interesting historical documents concerning the White Pine can be found here and there, but not as readily as one might wish. The story behind the White Pine is fasinating, even if we erase some questionable sources.

Some other sources...

http://www.nelma.org/index.php?module=StaticContent&func=display&scid=19
http://www.answers.com/topic/broad-arrow-4

The Following is a letter from issue #41 of The New England Coutant 1722

"SIR.
By the late Act for supplying Great Britain with Naval Stores from the Plantations, I find we are restrain'd from selling White Pine Trees, and an Admiralty Court is vested with a Power to try Offenders for Facts committed to the Land. The Act contains several other Matters of great Confequence to North America, but more especially to us here in New-England. If you have Rooms, I desire you to insert in your next the the following Extract from the London Journal, which will oblige Your Humble Servant, &c.

'The Mischiefs that are daily done, and the Evils that are daily suffered in the World are sad Proofs how much human Malice exceeds humans Wisdom. Law only Provides against the Evils which it knows or foresee; but when Laws fail, we must have recourse to Reason and Nature, which are the only Guides in the making of Laws. Stirpem Furis a...."



The History of our flag is also a diverse subject, One naval flag was called the Liberty Tree Flag.

The White Pine flag is now considered to be a symbol of property rights, brought up often lately in the recent "eminent domain law" debates. The idea of property rights of course goes back to the White Pines of the revolution.

It is also my home state's tree


More later....

 

[Bonsai Nut]

One naval flag was called the Liberty Tree Flag.

The problem with using the Internet as a source is that most of the information is inaccurate The "Liberty Tree Flag" refered to in the above link was actually the flag of the Massachusetts Navy (adopted in 1775). Variations of this flag are still used by Massachusetts and Maine. I would hope it was NOT called the Liberty Tree flag, since the Liberty Tree was an Elm Maybe only the author of the web page called it that? (j/k)

Here's some stuff I was able to dig up on the pine tree:

The history of the Pine Tree as a symbol of New England probably predates the european colonial settlements. In eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire and the southern corner of Maine, there once lived a nomadic tribe of Amerindians known as the Penacook. "Penacook" is an Algonquin word meaning "Children of the Pine Tree." The Penacook people have been credited with teaching the Pilgrims, those settlers of the Plymouth Colony of Eastern Massachusetts, much needed survival skills when the colonists were starving to death during the winter of 1621-22. The forests surrounding the settlement were teeming with game and wild foods unfamiliar to the Pilgrims and it was the Penacooks who showed them these new things. According to some accounts, the Penacooks also taught the Pilgrims elementary democracy, which the Penacooks, in turn, had learned from the Five Nations (later six) of the Iroquois Confederacy. The emblem of the Iroquois from the begining of their history to the present day is the "Tree of the Great Peace," a White Pine Tree with an Eagle perched on the top of it.

In 1629, the Plymouth Colony adopted a seal that featured a shield with a Saint George's cross on it, in between the arms of which is a scene repeated four times of a human figure on one knee holding up something in offering (sometimes described as a heart or as a flame) between two trees.

Later, in 1639, the Massachusetts Bay settlers adopted a seal that featured an Amerindian in the center holding an unstrung bow and a down-pointed arrow (symbols of peace and the personal emblems of Samoset, who was one of the two Amerindians who had been captured by the English, taken to England and taught English and returned to New England in time to greet the Pilgrims in their own language, which they thought was a sign from God). Out of his mouth is a ribbon with the caption "Come over and help us" on it and on either side there are two trees. On the left is a Pine Tree and on the right is an Oak Tree. The Oak Tree is a traditional symbol of England; could the Pine be the traditional symbol of the natives of New England?

The Pine Tree has appeared on the Massachusetts Coat of Arms (Reverse) and Naval Flag; the first Seal of New Hampshire (1776); the Coat of Arms, Seal and present Flag of Vermont; the Coat of Arms, Seal, and all the Flags, past and present, of Maine.

 

[Anonymous User]

The Pine Tree has appeared on the Massachusetts Coat of Arms (Reverse) and Naval Flag; the first Seal of New Hampshire (1776); the Coat of Arms, Seal and present Flag of Vermont; the Coat of Arms, Seal, and all the Flags, past and present, of Maine.

And a few coins...

This is what I like about these discussions, the educational value is priceless, thanks Bnut!



Will

 

[Jeffro]

It is either a cedar or redwood. Not so sure about this.